Kew - Reflections on a Sunny Day

Hi, the forecast today was for warm sunshine and a train strike - so the bus it was...

 look at that gorgeous blue sky!

 great plane trails in amongst the fluffy clouds

 the geese were walking towards me

 babies are growing fast!

 early morning shade

 the lilies are really shining this week in the Broad Walk

 you know what a fan I am of the acid green of the various Euphorbia that grow along the Broad Walk

 the fading allium seedheads were really shimmering in the 8am sun!

along Broad Walk at the corners of two side paths are some roses climbing up an A frame..

 I veered off at this point toward the Hive

 where the insects were enjoying the wildflowers

the rusty metal fencing around the top of the Hive,

 which I love, especially with the wildflowers poking through the gaps

 as I was photographing this (clover?),

 a little hover-thing landed on it..

it was very small but I managed to capture one decent shot

 then went round past the Princess of Wales glasshouse

 the big agave outside is quite sheltered and obviously attractive to spiders!

sheltering by a large tree a small group of irises glistened









but there was one at the front by the path I loved

 from there I went back round to the Pond
where I got rather carried away with the reflections...
perfect before the sun gets too high overhead

 love this one

 and the pop of the Summer Sun adds to it.

 from the waters edge the tree makes a perfect frame

 the WWII memorial bench












long shadows

 the family of geese I'd seen an hour earlier were now at the other end of the pond, having feasted on grass, and were now crossing the path in front of me...

 I walked past Sapphire Star

 I really love these purple and blue ones, they look different colours in every light (bit like my hair- not that that is purple)

 even though it was early, people were out enjoying the sunshine

 it was lovely and cool walking through the trees in the dappled shade

 off to my next favourite..

 there are more poppies than there were a week ago, I am sure

 I've left out loads, as you've seen them so many times before, but they were stunning today in the sun!

I walked up towards the Pagoda and the Japanese garden

 I was talking to the steward guarding them - I've seen her several times before and know these are some of her favourites.


she told me that at this time of day the yellow one in the centre left of this pic, is practically translucent if you view it from the other side....

 so after lots of close ups (we agreed we'd love it if they were rotated in the gravel so you could see different ones at the front now and then....)

 love this one!

 ... anyway, I went round to the other side of the yellow one...

 wow indeed!

 back the other side again

 I had the longer zoom on for these so could get some great closeups

such a treat

 final view (including the Kew steward - I must ask her next time I see her if she is a student, employee or just helping out for Chihuly!)

 I walked up Cedar Vista towards the lake, my long skirt skimming over the surface of the ever so slightly still dew-damp grass (very refreshing!)

 I could hear the call of peacocks all the way


the little pond is covered in pond-weed and scum. I'm surprised the rain didn't disperse it

 as I looked up in the cedar trees, I saw two of the peacocks...

a lady who stopped by me said she often sees them in the trees early in the morning and has once been lucky enough to see one fly out of the trees... what a sight that would be...


sadly neither moved - well, neither flew down..

still too early I guess

this one I took on the phone.

 I was rewarded at the lake with glorious reflections
(it was approaching 10 now)

 the blue sky reflecting in the water with the lush green growth round it, just beautiful

 ahead of me, the swan and her cygnets were again being hand-fed, this week by a lady on the bench by the crossing over the lake

 with Mum keeping a close eye on the ever-present Canada geese, making sure they don't get too close

 another photographer was taking multiple shots of the Sackler Crossing.. I waited a few minutes for him before walking across (didn't want to get in his way or his shots)

 I love the curves of the bridge

 pausing halfway across for views up the lake

and from other side, more reflections!

 I climbed up the Treetop Walkway

don't normally photograph this, the working bit behind the scenes
I could still hear the peacocks in the trees

 more shadows!

climbing down, I made my way to

the Temperate House

 walking round to the steps up...

 ok, I do like them now, in the sun!

the palms were being sprayed

 through the glass, more reflections!

 the sun was in the right direction to cast shadows on the floor too, love that you even get the colour as well!

 angel's trumpets

 the lime crystal tower from a different angle

 reflections in the gallery windows

reflections again!

 the smoke tree near the entrance.  it's huge

 Princess of Wales glasshouse now...
the flower spike on this    ???? is huge and delicate

it's possibly an agave of some type.

 there were several flowers on this large cactus

 and loads of buds

  I walked round peering into the undergrowth and in all the spots I've seen them, but no water dragons today.  I was surprised as they seem to like the heat.

 looking into a fern

 orchid

 these little clusters of pink and white flowers were really pretty.  not sure what they are though

 there were lots of new flowers on the grevillea

 this is one of the older flowers

 walked through the rock garden

 back to the Broad Walk after a glass of water and a cake


(bit late, was going to have a proper lunch but didn't fancy any of the sandwiches and it was too hot for a hot meal.)

sat on a bench, as some cloud cover had come over so the sun wasn't too hot (it had only got to about 22c so wasn't massively hot)


but I didn't stop long, as I wanted to walk through the rose garden

 I'd been sitting on a bench with these grasses behind me, tickling my neck as they blew in the breeze....

 those roses on the frame again, in full sun now

 I like the spiky eryngium (sea holly)

 finally made it to the rose garden...


this week's rain had battered some of them a bit, but there was lots to admire (and smell)

some of the name labels tell you how scented they are





this is a variety called Port Sunlight  - included for fans of the happy stampers craft show!

not very scented

 I cut along a path through some trees past some large rambling roses

 a robin flew onto a bench


I went and sat on the grass in the shade of some big trees for a while


before cutting back past the Palm House and into

 the water lily house (it was really busy so they were restricting the numbers in at any one time)


one of the gourd type things bursting open

from the other side, bit blurry unfortunately

 the waterlilies match the shape of the glass so well

 and the leaves even more so!

that's your lot for today, I think the sunshine must have curbed my normally trigger-happy shutter finger as I took over 200 fewer photos than usual on a 6 hour visit!


Still, I've managed to make this a traditionally photo-heavy post, thanks for looking!